Winston's medical thread (lumps and assorted issues)

[ajginyul]

Hi all,

Earlier today I was at my exotic vet with my guinea pig Winston. I went in because I suspected a possible URI, but came out with a whole list of issues that I wasn't expecting him to have. Since I've had guinea pigs almost my entire life and this forum has helped me through a number of guinea pig issues, I was hoping to get some second thoughts before I decide how to move forward. Thanks in advance.

Winston is a 2.5 year old male. I adopted him when he was around 6 months and his health was good at the time. However, he's always been "rotund" and is a bit overweight, even though I feed him a good diet (Oxbow pellets, timothy and meadow hay, Vitamin C tablets, etc; I'm probably a little heavy handed with the pellets since I haven't had an overweight guinea pig before, so I have tried to cut back on them for Winston). He lives happily with a 4.5 year old boar, Percy, in an approx. 5 ft x3.5 ft C&C cage.

When he was about 1, I noticed a lump in the center of his chest. I will admit that because of his young age and the fact I'd had guinea pigs with benign cysts before (and it felt similar to me) I didn't take it too seriously. I have watched it and it has not grown since it first appeared 1.5 years ago, and doesn't seem to bother him.

Nose issue: A little over 10 days ago Winston developed a strange crust around his nose. I wasn't sure what caused it, and Percy was fine. I wiped it off since Winston likes to stick his whole head in the hay and it wasn't the first time he'd had debris around his nose. I should note that that was around the time I started opening the windows because of the weather growing warmer, but I don't believe there have been any other environmental changes that would have triggered it. I kept an eye on him and he ate and acted normal, and was not sneezing or coughing. However, about a week later, he developed the crust again around his nose and I thought his nose seemed a little wet. I made the appointment with the exotic vet. In the past few days it hasn't come back as bad as it was last week, but there's still a bit of crust around his nose.

At the vet, she agreed his nose was a little flaky and moist and suspected a bacteria infection. She said his lungs, heart were all normal. She gave me a 21 day course of trimethoprim sulfa and a probiotic powder.

Lumps: The vet then went through the usual checkup and found more lumps. She noticed the one on his belly but seemed a little less concerned with that, than she did with the fact that she said she found lumps under his front two arms and also said it felt like his mammaries were larger than they should be. I had not noticed the lumps under his arms. She suggested we do a fine needle aspiration and they had the ability to do a "review" of it in office, though no one in their office is a pathologist. An hour or so later, they had done it and the test was inconclusive: they mostly found fat but said there was some "cellular activity" that they were not sure about and asked me if we wanted to do another and send it to a pathologist for a better diagnosis. I wavered because at that point we'd been in the office for about 3 hours and it had been a stressful ordeal, and she said I could decide next time at his follow-up appointment if I wanted to do another to send to a pathologist.

Blood in urine: During the aspiration, Winston urinated and she said they noticed a pink tinge to it and rushed in to ask me if they could do an X Ray for bladder stones. This caught me off guard, as I had never seen blood in his urine and had never heard him squeak, etc., when urinating. I agreed to the X Ray and luckily there were no stones and she said if it was a UTI, the antibiotic we were putting him on anyways, would clear it up.

Arthritis: Finally, when they were doing the X ray, they said they noticed arthritis in one of his legs. She noted that might be why he was overweight (and less active compared to Percy). She started mentioning anti-inflammatories, which, at that point I think Winston and I had both had enough, and said we'll focus on just one problem at a time for now.

So, I am leaning towards doing the course of antibiotics, going back in about 3 weeks for a follow-up with the vet to see if the nose issue clears up. They certainly gave Winston a lot of attention and tests and I feel like I need a good idea as to what I want to pursue or not before I go back.

If anyone has any thoughts it would be appreciated. I am torn between being worried about his nose issue (could it really be a bacterial infection when he's not coughing or sneezing? Are the antibiotics a good idea?) and worried about the lumps (if he's had them for a while, what are the odds that they are serious? Could they just be connected to whatever infection he has with his nose)? I've been researching tonight but am at a loss for how I feel or what I should be focusing on next.

Tonight Winston is doing well, eating and drinking well and seems to be happy to be back home with Percy.

[Sef]

I'm so sorry that your little guy is going through so many things at once. We had a Winston many years ago; it's a great name. :)

Any chance that you could post a picture of what you're seeing on his nose? Did the vet test for yeast/fungus? There is some good info on fungal infections here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html
That the area is moist doesn't immediately scream fungal to me, which tends to be dry and crusty, but I'm just tossing it out there as a possibility, since it doesn't sound like he is exhibiting typical URI signs:
https://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
There is no discharge or crust around his eyes?

It's good that x-rays were done to rule out stones, and agree that the Bactrim he was put on should help clear it up if this is a UTI. I can't see how it would be related to any of the other issues, unless he has some sort of bladder tumor---given that he has the other lumps.

There is some good info on various types of lumps here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/lumps.html

I think your plan to do a course of antibiotics and return in a few weeks for a follow-up and further evaluation of the lumps seems reasonable. I have not dealt with a lot of lumps (our Winston did have a mammary tumor, but he was a senior when we adopted him and not a good candidate for surgery) over the years, so hopefully someone with more experience in that area will chime in. I do think a fine needle aspiration seems like a logical next step.

He seems a little young for arthritis. Do you know if he ever had an injury to the leg that may not have healed properly?

What is his current weight?

[Lynx]

See if the issue with his nose looks at all like cheilitis:
https://www.guinealynx.info/cheilitis.html

[ajginyul]

Thanks for your replies. I did not take a photo of his nose when it was at its worst, and because he has dark skin and fur, and most of the flakiness and wetness is gone today (he's been on the antibiotics since yesterday so wonder if they have already taken effect?), I don't think a photo taken now will show much. He has not had discharge around his eyes.

I did read about cheilitis last week on this site and the fact that I had given them a few small pieces of tomato the week before crossed my mind. I stopped giving them any tomatoes as soon as I read about it. However, he had nothing around his mouth, it was very much localized to his nostrils. The photos on that page are worse than what he had.

The vet did not test for yeast/fungus and now that you mention it I did notice a few weeks ago a flaky patch on his back end. I've sometimes noticed this as the weather changes from winter to spring. It's not very obvious anymore though. Back at the time, I gave his rear end a quick rinse using a drop of gorgeous guineas shampoo (which I've used on him several times before with no adverse effects). That seems to have cleared up the flaky patch (visibly at least).

One thing that I am not clear on when reading about lumps is that it seems like malignant lumps are more common in older guinea pigs? His young age makes me question why he would have so many. The one on his stomach feels like a lipoma (which a guinea pig I'd had around 20 years ago also had, and it never bothered her.) I personally have a hard time feeling anything that the vet said she felt under his arms. She claimed there were lumps but to me it feels more like fat. I will keep reading more and seeing if I can notice anything else on him. His mammaries are enlarged, I can see that.

Regarding his leg/arthritis, he has had no injuries that I know of (I've never noticed him limping, etc., though he does like to lay down with his legs sprawled behind him, which makes me wonder if one of his legs does irritate him). He can run quickly if he wants to, which is not my experience with guinea pigs who are elderly and have had arthritis. She mentioned Oxbow joint + bone supplements as a possible treatment.

Another note is that it was about 6-8 months ago I felt he gained a lot of weight. I chalked it up to him being in the "prime of his life" (about 1.5 years old), though I wonder if an underlying health condition could have triggered that? His lifestyle has been more or less the same as Percy (though Winston is naturally less active in general) and Percy has had a consistent weight throughout that entire time. In 2018 (at just under 1 years old) I recorded Winston's weight at 2lbs 6.9 oz, roughly a year later, about 10 months ago in 2019, he was at 3 lbs 5oz, and he's remained at roughly that weight since.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the 2nd opinions and thoughts to help me feel better prepared when I go to his follow up appointment in 3 weeks.

[Sef]

Just out if curiosity...any chance you use a plastic food bowl? Bacteria from it could cause bacterial or fungal issues around the nose.I have actually had that happen.

3 lbs 5 oz is heavy. Which pellets and how much a day are you feeding him? Some people think that a heavier weight is okay, but I disagree. Joint pain, anal sac impactions, bladder stones and other health problems can arise.

[ajginyul]

I use ceramic food bowls. Interestingly, tonight I just noticed that his nose issue was back...and he was standing right over his ceramic food bowl that was placed underneath the water bottle, causing a bit of a mess (wet pellets) in the bottom of the bowl. This happens fairly often and I do wipe out the bowl but maybe not often enough? I took a pic of his nose which I'll include in this post. I'll go clean out the bowls now.

I'll try to post a picture in a moment.

I agree that he is heavy and I would prefer he not be so heavy. If you have any suggestions for reducing his weight that would be appreciated, considering he lives with a cage mate at a healthy weight. Once I started restricting their pellets quite a bit (last summer) to about 1/8 a cup a day, and I noticed that Percy (who is dominant) started to chase after Winston whenever he tried to have a pellet. In retrospect, I wonder if that might have been a blessing in disguise, but since they normally live peacefully together the aggressive behavior scared me a bit and I stopped being so limiting. I feed them Oxbow guinea pig pellets.

[ajginyul]

image taken tonight of his nose:

https://ibb.co/8XzRdCZ

[bpatters]

How much does he weigh? I'd expect a male guinea pig to weigh a little over three pounds.

Tomatoes do not cause cheilitis. It's a bacterial infection, and is not caused by food.

I agree about the plastic bowl. I once had a cat with very severe hair loss around the chin and nose caused, for whatever reason, by a plastic food bowl. It cleared up as soon as we switched to something else.

[Sef]

She stated that he weighs 3 lbs. 5 oz., and that is heavy. As I said, too much weight puts undue stress on the joints and makes males more prone to impactions. Reduced physical activity associated with being overweight can also lead to sludge and stones and other health issues.

Oxbow recommends 1/8 cup per pig per day. How long ago did you reduce their diet to that amount?

[Lynx]

Lumps under his arms makes me think of swollen lymph nodes.

There is information contributed by a vet to help you determine if your guinea pig is a good weight for his frame. Kind of middle of the page:
https://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html